Speaker 1: Welcome. What's burnon here with the international Man in Mystery
Speaker 1: Matt Barnes, just back from Croatia.
Speaker 2: All the smoke international you guys.
Speaker 1: By the way, that sunset everyone go to Matt's ig
Speaker 1: if you haven't seen it, it's crazy.
Speaker 2: It was insane.
Speaker 1: What was it like?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean shout out to Domo. He was great,
Speaker 3: great hosts. We were out there for the Croatia Sunset
Speaker 3: Sports Festival. We were one of a handful of people
Speaker 3: they brought in from around the world to talk sports media,
Speaker 3: women in sports, women in media. So we had a
Speaker 3: great time. But it was really an eight day vacation.
Speaker 3: I think we worked a total of like four hours
Speaker 3: and eight days. So food was great, views were amazing,
Speaker 3: water was turquoise, as my girl likes to say. The
Speaker 3: air was clean. So man had a great time in Croatia.
Speaker 1: Shout out Showtime Basketball. For eight days for four hours
Speaker 1: of work, it's pretty great.
Speaker 3: Cross the waters. We appreciate you.
Speaker 1: There we go while you left, though, while you were
Speaker 1: sleeping so to speak, like the NBA Finals started, I
Speaker 1: know that you kept up. We're going into Game three
Speaker 1: in Miami all tied up. What the odds makers expected
Speaker 1: after Denver thumped Miami in Game one, and in fact,
Speaker 1: the Nuggets were actually up at halftime. They're up by
Speaker 1: fifteen in the second quorder. What does it surprise you
Speaker 1: that they're going into Game three tied? Do you think
Speaker 1: it means something?
Speaker 3: I can't say it's surprised me at this point, because
Speaker 3: I think Miami has continued to surprise everyone on every level,
Speaker 3: you know, from me in one game, or being a
Speaker 3: playing team losing their first playing game, to running through
Speaker 3: the best the Eastern Concert has to offer. I really
Speaker 3: just give a lot of credit to Spolster and Jimmy Butler.
Speaker 3: I really feel like they have these guys believing. You know,
Speaker 3: obviously you look at the roster, it's not a ton
Speaker 3: of name to jump out to you, but these guys
Speaker 3: play a certain way, and I compare them to a
Speaker 3: San Antonio from a standpoint, not the talent and if
Speaker 3: they'll win a championship or not, but just great coach
Speaker 3: that makes these guys believe in They're going to play
Speaker 3: their way every single game. They're not going to beat themselves.
Speaker 3: You're going to have to beat them, and that's what
Speaker 3: I think you saw in Game two. They didn't beat themselves.
Speaker 3: I think Denver let their foot off the gas. You know,
Speaker 3: obviously spoiled through you know, Spolster through some defensive you
Speaker 3: know magic in there from you know, pressing to going
Speaker 3: into his zone to you know, really focusing on slowing
Speaker 3: down Murray. So uh again, you know, great executing, you
Speaker 3: know a great execution. But we all know, Rachel, you know,
Speaker 3: the finals in the playoffs in general all about adjustments.
Speaker 3: So we're gonna have to see how Denver bounces back.
Speaker 3: But you know, heading into Miami won one, Miami's feeling
Speaker 3: very confident right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I mean we know this bo is a
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame coach, bound for the Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: one day. This is chess match. Though Michael Malone knows
Speaker 1: what he's doing. He's been around the block. He was
Speaker 1: literally raised in the game. His father was an NBA coach.
Speaker 1: So I do think the x's and o's is going
Speaker 1: to be interesting going back and forth. And there was
Speaker 1: a lot made in game two of turning Yokic into
Speaker 1: a scorer instead of a passer. Right, he did open
Speaker 1: up the scoring lanes. I mean, that's inarguable. Jokic had
Speaker 1: a playoff low for him for assists.
Speaker 2: But afterward coach.
Speaker 3: Spoke to you didn't like that.
Speaker 2: Turning Yokic into a score. He was very adamant.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's a very simplistic view and all of this stuff.
Speaker 1: Was that accurate on his part or was that a
Speaker 1: little gamesmanship of him being like, no, no, that's not
Speaker 1: what we're doing over here.
Speaker 3: I think a little bit of both. Obviously, shout out
Speaker 3: Ramona because she knows the game. She knows the game,
Speaker 3: you know, as good as anybody.
Speaker 1: Yes, and it was a completely legitimate, valid question.
Speaker 3: Yes, but obviously there's more to it. You know. I
Speaker 3: think Jokic is great, but we've seen when his supporting
Speaker 3: cast doesn't show up. They're kind of a middle of
Speaker 3: the pack team, you know. I mean, obviously Murray had
Speaker 3: an off night, Michael Porter Junior didn't show up. You know,
Speaker 3: Bruce Brown's been great off the bench. He didn't really
Speaker 3: give him too much. So Jokic had to do what
Speaker 3: he had to do to kind of keep his team
Speaker 3: in the game. So we all know that he's a
Speaker 3: capable score. He's just more of a pass first guy,
Speaker 3: and I don't necessarily look at the forces as him
Speaker 3: not looking to pass it was I think it was
Speaker 3: more of his teams just or his teammates not making shots.
Speaker 3: So you know, again, I think you brought up a
Speaker 3: great point. You know, two of the best coaches in
Speaker 3: the game, and it's an interesting chest game amongst them.
Speaker 3: And then also there's a game that's being played on
Speaker 3: the floor with the players. So this game will be
Speaker 3: Game three will be about a justments and I'm sure
Speaker 3: that Mike Malona have his team ready, and I know
Speaker 3: Spoll throw some more wrinkles into what they're doing, so
Speaker 3: we know that Miami kind of really has to make
Speaker 3: a lot of adjustments. Everyone think. You know, obviously on paper,
Speaker 3: Denvers the better team, but you know, the game is
Speaker 3: played on the floor, you know, with two great coaches
Speaker 3: that are going back and forth and in mind games,
Speaker 3: and players have to go out there and perform.
Speaker 1: One of the real geniuses of Miami's roster for the playoffs,
Speaker 1: which by the way, is what it is because it
Speaker 1: shifted so much during the year, is that it's so
Speaker 1: like dexterous, right, they can do so many different things
Speaker 1: depending on what the other team throws at you. They
Speaker 1: can play in a bunch of different ways, and we
Speaker 1: saw that in the way they played against Milwaukee, the
Speaker 1: way they played against New York. They shifted like three
Speaker 1: times just in that New York series alone. So that's
Speaker 1: what to me, you know, he culture, Yes, huge. I
Speaker 1: used to work down there, like no question. That is
Speaker 1: a big part of their DNA. There were several times
Speaker 1: in Game two where they were behind and they could
Speaker 1: have just quit and been like, great, this isn't our series,
Speaker 1: and they didn't, so like all of that's real yea. Also, however,
Speaker 1: they have the players that they have the guys to
Speaker 1: be able to do a bunch of different things. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's interesting. One of the sort of X
Speaker 1: and O things that I've seen a lot over the
Speaker 1: last couple of days going into Game three is that
Speaker 1: Yogica's post touches were really limited, and that's one of
Speaker 1: the things that Miami did. And then when he gets
Speaker 1: the ball in the posts, I mean, as untraditional as
Speaker 1: the center as he is in some ways, when he
Speaker 1: hits his back to the basket, the way that they
Speaker 1: score is just it's mind boss.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you know, Miami's hung their hat during
Speaker 3: this spolstal era on defense, you know, in different strategies
Speaker 3: and you know what I've looked about Miami is, you know,
Speaker 3: they've the complete underdog story. You know, we've heard how
Speaker 3: many guys haven't been drafted. So not only are they
Speaker 3: playing for this championship, but a lot of these guys
Speaker 3: are playing for big deals. Yeah, you know what I
Speaker 3: mean in Miami is someone who will pay people good money.
Speaker 3: But you know, anytime you can get Bam and Jimmy
Speaker 3: both in twenty and then you have Gay Vincent, an
Speaker 3: undrafted player from Norcao who you know led the team
Speaker 3: in scoring. It's been different guys at different time from me. Know,
Speaker 3: Caleb Martin had a great Eastern Conference finals. He hasn't
Speaker 3: necessarily showed up yet in these finals. But again a
Speaker 3: guy like Gave Vincent stepped up, Truce has stepped up,
Speaker 3: so you know, again, I really just credit Spolster for,
Speaker 3: you know, the the the creative mind behind what they're
Speaker 3: doing on defense, and then having these guys believe in
Speaker 3: themselves enough that hey, even though you know we have
Speaker 3: the roster we have and in Denver is big Denver,
Speaker 3: you know we're just as good as anybody in the world,
Speaker 3: and we're showing it right now.
Speaker 1: Well, Steve Kerr, of all people, had an interesting take
Speaker 1: on Spolstra. He went on Draymond's podcast after Game two,
Speaker 1: which is an amazing sentence that I just.
Speaker 2: Said out loud.
Speaker 1: I mean, things have changed so much in the media
Speaker 1: and NBA world that we have a current player podcasting
Speaker 1: after games about what's going on in the NBA Finals
Speaker 1: and has his head coach and what a time champion
Speaker 1: joining him. But there you go. Enjoy NBA fans. You've
Speaker 1: got a lot going on right now. It's a nice
Speaker 1: world to be in. Steve talked about the heat starting
Speaker 1: Kevin Love and how that allowed Jimmy Butler to guard
Speaker 1: Murray and he said, quote, I can see them in
Speaker 1: their coaching meetings saying Murray is the head of the snake,
Speaker 1: not Jokic. Yokic is going to dominate no matter what
Speaker 1: we do. I think they just decided Murray is the
Speaker 1: guy we got to stop. And then you saw they
Speaker 1: were blitzing Murray quite a bit and really tried to
Speaker 1: take everything away from him out of the game. I
Speaker 1: don't know he thought it great call.
Speaker 3: That's a great call, I mean, because we've seen I mean,
Speaker 3: this Denver team has been struggling the last two years
Speaker 3: because of injury. Yeah, and you know, Jokic has been
Speaker 3: and during that time one MVP, so we know how
Speaker 3: great is So Steve Kerr has a great point. Jokic
Speaker 3: is going to be Yokic regardless, Like you're not going
Speaker 3: to shut him down, But you know, we have a
Speaker 3: better chance at shutting down to Jamal Murray. And he's
Speaker 3: been tremendous in these playoffs and really the whole season,
Speaker 3: you know, so I agree that although that may not
Speaker 3: have been the game plan, or it was the game plan,
Speaker 3: they did a great job at it. And then you know,
Speaker 3: obviously Krevi. You know, Jimmy Butler is one of those
Speaker 3: rare superstars that you know you're not just going to
Speaker 3: get one thing from him. This guy is a complete
Speaker 3: player and does whatever it takes, from guarding the best
Speaker 3: player to knocking down big shots, to getting his team
Speaker 3: going to making plays. He's done absolutely everything this season.
Speaker 3: But I agree, I mean, Jokic is one of those
Speaker 3: guys that is going to be a mismatch. He's going
Speaker 3: to get his numbers regardless. But if we can shut
Speaker 3: down or slow down Murray, you know you're putting a
Speaker 3: lot of pressure on Michael Porter Junior. You're putting a
Speaker 3: lot of pressure on Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown Colwell, Pope,
Speaker 3: you know, I'm living with those guys beating us instead
Speaker 3: of Murray.
Speaker 1: Speaking of the Warriors guys, while you were out of
Speaker 1: the country, Bob Meyer stepped down, and I mean, look,
Speaker 1: you go way back with Bob.
Speaker 3: You obviously that was my first agent, very Bob was
Speaker 3: your first agent under Arn tellhim. When I came out
Speaker 3: of UCLA, I had no idea.
Speaker 1: I know who's Tray mcgrady's agent man, all right, so
Speaker 1: you know him super well, you actually, I mean it's amazing.
Speaker 1: You interviewed him with all the smoke the day that
Speaker 1: Draymond punched Jordan Poole. So you had been there with
Speaker 1: the Warriors for some key moments this year. Obviously you're
Speaker 1: so tied to that team. What do you think happens
Speaker 1: from now on?
Speaker 3: That's tough. I mean, you're hearing some things slowed around.
Speaker 3: One of my former teammates, Mike Dunley Junior, great basketball mind,
Speaker 3: but I think what Bob did for that franchise is
Speaker 3: obviously can't be underplayed. I don't think anyone's underplaying it,
Speaker 3: just a great, great basketball mind that I think you
Speaker 3: probably just wrote it. Course, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: There's just a lot of stuff. And then again you
Speaker 3: hear rumors about the owner kind of overstepping his bounds,
Speaker 3: would you say, but as it can an owner actually
Speaker 3: do that if it's his team, you know, So I
Speaker 3: don't know if that any of that is true. But
Speaker 3: I think you know, Bob just needed a break. I
Speaker 3: mean a lot has gone on in the last has
Speaker 3: he been ten years, eleven years, and they've won, you know,
Speaker 3: four championships and been to the finals you know a
Speaker 3: handful of times. So sometimes as players and even management,
Speaker 3: you just get worn out. And I think that's the
Speaker 3: case that you know, Bob has gotten worn out. But
Speaker 3: I don't think he's done in basketball. I definitely think,
Speaker 3: you know, he's a SOCOW guy. I think at some
Speaker 3: point you look for him to be on some some
Speaker 3: management side. I'm leaning Lakers or Clippers. I'm probably going
Speaker 3: to take a year off, but you know, look to
Speaker 3: have his mind back in the game, and if it
Speaker 3: does come down to the game, I'm sure it'll be
Speaker 3: in a SOCO team where he's from and where his
Speaker 3: family's at well.
Speaker 1: It's interesting the Clippers had an opening, right Michael Winger
Speaker 1: went to the Washington Wizards, and they left that job
Speaker 1: open for a little bit.
Speaker 3: And just to see.
Speaker 1: I just I have no idea, but I am sure
Speaker 1: at least calls replaced from Steve Bumer being like, do
Speaker 1: you know how much money I have?
Speaker 2: Would you like some of it?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I also think too. I mean, and this is
Speaker 3: my opinion and complete speculation, but I think it could
Speaker 3: have been real with the Lakers if they didn't make
Speaker 3: the run they made.
Speaker 1: You know that.
Speaker 3: I think Rob Polinka was you know, playing with house
Speaker 3: money for long enough and they were able to make
Speaker 3: some great moves and make a run to the Western Finals.
Speaker 3: But that was one thing that I saw that if
Speaker 3: the Lakers didn't make that run, that I could have
Speaker 3: saw Bob possibly not taken no time off and really
Speaker 3: sliding right into Lakers management. But they have made the playoffs, Like, yeah, no,
Speaker 3: I agree, so it'd be interesting to see. Obviously, he
Speaker 3: probably needs some time off. It's been a lot. He's
Speaker 3: got some you know, some some gray hairs, and he's
Speaker 3: not someone who should have gray hairs yet, so a
Speaker 3: little time off of the family will serve him well,
Speaker 3: and I'm sure he'll have his pick of the choice.
Speaker 3: You know, it can go anywhere he wants when it's time.
Speaker 1: Bob Myers has been Draymond Green's greatest champion since he
Speaker 1: drafted Raymond. Do you think Draymond Green is a Golden
Speaker 1: State Warrior? I was like Jersey on at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the season.
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 3: I think that Bob may have. You know, that was
Speaker 3: probably one of the final things he got across to
Speaker 3: management about or excuse me about ownership, about how important
Speaker 3: Draymond is. And you know, obviously as players, I see it,
Speaker 3: I've seen it in person. Those guys in the locker
Speaker 3: room know it. Sometimes ownership may not be as keen
Speaker 3: because they're not necessarily basketball type guys. This is the
Speaker 3: hobby for them. But I think that was probably Bob's
Speaker 3: last thing was Hey, I'm out, but if this core
Speaker 3: is going to continue to move forward, Dreymond needs to
Speaker 3: be a part of it.
Speaker 1: I know Steph Curry has been really vocal about that.
Speaker 1: Clay has been vocal about it. And it's funny there
Speaker 1: were times this season and Dres talked about it that
Speaker 1: you know, the team has been frustrated with him both
Speaker 1: individually on the player level and obviously a big picture
Speaker 1: with the Jordan Poole stuff and everything. My opinion just
Speaker 1: from being in with them, and you were with him
Speaker 1: through that Sacramento series when he was susphened, Draymond was suspended.
Speaker 1: That almost swung the pendulum a pendulum pendulum so much
Speaker 1: the other way. You know, the fact that he missed
Speaker 1: that game, well, I.
Speaker 3: Mean, I just think, you know, as great as Steph
Speaker 3: and Clay are, Dre is the leader of that team.
Speaker 3: And I got a chance to literally sit back and
Speaker 3: kick it with Dre during that first round in Sacramento,
Speaker 3: and we talked for, you know, quite some time, and
Speaker 3: you know, he just, you know, he told me that
Speaker 3: it was it was so hard to see things going
Speaker 3: a certain way, but he didn't really feel like he
Speaker 3: had maybe the footing or the voice at the time
Speaker 3: to kind of straighten it out during the season. And
Speaker 3: he said he really feel he felt like he didn't
Speaker 3: get his voice back until about February. And I'm sure
Speaker 3: a lot of bad habits, it probably accumulated for some
Speaker 3: of the younger guys at that point. You know, February
Speaker 3: is you know, thirty games left in the season. So again,
Speaker 3: looking back, I didn't necessarily think that the punch was
Speaker 3: gonna cause a something that would linger the entire season,
Speaker 3: but it did. Yeah, And you know, obviously you look
Speaker 3: at Jordan Poole and his performance wasn't very well, But
Speaker 3: I wasn't necessarily looking at his performance more than I
Speaker 3: was looking at his body language and the way he
Speaker 3: looked teammates off, the way he looked Hall of famers
Speaker 3: off when they're trying to talk to him and give
Speaker 3: him a little bit of information. So it'll be interesting
Speaker 3: to see where he's at next season. I have a
Speaker 3: better feeling that Draymond will be there. And I'm not
Speaker 3: saying it's either or, but you know, I think they
Speaker 3: could shop Jordan Pool this year. He may need a
Speaker 3: fresh start because there's no there's no there's no guarantee
Speaker 3: that that bridge can ever kind of be rebuilt, and
Speaker 3: it needs to be rebuilt because they need him at
Speaker 3: his best because he was supposed to get think. I mean,
Speaker 3: just last year, we're thinking this guy is like the
Speaker 3: guy you can hand the torch to and run with
Speaker 3: it after you know, our core group is gone. So
Speaker 3: I'm not saying one season has changed at all, but
Speaker 3: it could. So that'll be interesting to see if if
Speaker 3: Jordan Poole is a Warrior at the beginning of next season.
Speaker 1: Well, it was interesting that same podcast I was mentioning
Speaker 1: with Steve current Draymond. Steve was talking about the Miami
Speaker 1: Heat and you know, you know Steve, like he says
Speaker 1: things and he's always he's very smart, he's always in touchable,
Speaker 1: but you could never prove anything. But he said he's
Speaker 1: like that Miami Heat team, you know, nobody ever complains
Speaker 1: about playing time or their role. And he kind of
Speaker 1: went on and on about how like, you know, a
Speaker 1: guy may have a big role and then he has
Speaker 1: a reduced role because of the way he's playing, but
Speaker 1: they never complain about it. It's always what's best for
Speaker 1: the team. And obviously there was a lot of public,
Speaker 1: you know, tention about the fact that Jordan Poole was
Speaker 1: unhappy with the size of his role, certainly toward the
Speaker 1: end of the postseason. So I don't know how much
Speaker 1: of that was targeted. But Steve does not say things
Speaker 1: by accident.
Speaker 3: We both know how smart strategic he is. So those
Speaker 3: are some warning shots for sure.
Speaker 1: There you go. And he's right about the Miami heat,
Speaker 1: by the way, and that's possibly going to be tested
Speaker 1: again in this next Homestand because Tyler Hero has been
Speaker 1: in full contact for about a week, and he made
Speaker 1: a point of saying in game two, like, oh, I
Speaker 1: wasn't ready anyway, you know, he didn't want to put
Speaker 1: anyone under pressure. But Game three has been sort of
Speaker 1: the target that was.
Speaker 2: Put out there.
Speaker 1: Do you put him back in the lineup game three
Speaker 1: or four?
Speaker 3: Yes, I do, and I think because he can shoot
Speaker 3: the ball and he makes plays. He's a scory twenty
Speaker 3: point a game guy, you know. And I saw him
Speaker 3: saying he doesn't want to step on anybody's toes. But
Speaker 3: at this point he's their third best player, and although
Speaker 3: he's had a lot of time off, you always want
Speaker 3: to give him a chance to see he can kind
Speaker 3: of get it going, you know, And obviously that's going
Speaker 3: to sacrifice some guys minutes. But one more thing about
Speaker 3: Golden State before we leave them is they've always had
Speaker 3: strength and numbers. That's always been their motto. And it's
Speaker 3: never been about us me, you know, Like I said,
Speaker 3: I was there when all the stars were there, and
Speaker 3: it was never about anything but winning. And you can see,
Speaker 3: like I said, with the Draymond thing, not being able
Speaker 3: to kind of really have a grasp on the team
Speaker 3: at the beginning, that was something they kind of went
Speaker 3: astray during the process of the season, and once he
Speaker 3: felt confident enough for comfortable enough to kind of, hey,
Speaker 3: we got to steer the ship this way, the ship
Speaker 3: was already you know, yeah, it was already ghost riding,
Speaker 3: like they say in the Bay. So it'll be interesting
Speaker 3: to see if Tyler comes back. If i'm Spo, and
Speaker 3: I'm sure Spo will, and if Tyler's ready to play,
Speaker 3: you definitely got to throw him out there and see
Speaker 3: what we can give you on the offensive end, because
Speaker 3: this is a great defensive team, but they have struggled
Speaker 3: at times on the offensive end. If you have one
Speaker 3: of your best players coming back and is you know,
Speaker 3: healthy enough to play, you definitely got to give a chance.
Speaker 1: I mean, certainly the way he scores could help them
Speaker 1: against the way Denver defense. So that seems pretty clear.
Speaker 1: And if Steve's right, and there really is a big
Speaker 1: similarity between the ethos of those teams and the strength
Speaker 1: and numbers and kind of the idea that Miami has
Speaker 1: that same vibe. People shouldn't get it, shouldn't caused static
Speaker 1: if he comes back and displaces some guys. So we
Speaker 1: will see if all of that is actually that's.
Speaker 3: Why you pay the coaches big money, tough.
Speaker 1: Decisions, and you know, we'll see, you know how much
Speaker 1: Spoe gives him in terms of you know, how much
Speaker 1: leeway he gives them to like work himself back in
Speaker 1: versus not some news involving let me tell you if
Speaker 1: this shocks you. During the NB Finals, so we have
Speaker 1: some news involving Lebron James has somehow surfaced the athletic
Speaker 1: reporting Kyrie Irving wants the Mavericks to explore trading for
Speaker 1: Lebron to make a big three with Luka Dancic.
Speaker 2: So, first of all, what was.
Speaker 1: The first thought that went through your mind when you
Speaker 1: heard those.
Speaker 3: That's Luca's team, not Kyle team. It was literally my
Speaker 3: first thought. But then you know, as as that rumor
Speaker 3: comes out, or if it's not a rumor, if it's true,
Speaker 3: you see the Lakers responding with the only way Lebron
Speaker 3: is going there is if Luca comes here, and we
Speaker 3: all know that's not happening. So it'll it'll it'll be
Speaker 3: interesting to see, you know, what happens on both sides
Speaker 3: of the coin. You know, I think obviously Dallas can
Speaker 3: give Kyrie the most money, but again, that is Luca's team,
Speaker 3: and as great as Kyrie has been or is, that
Speaker 3: team wasn't good with those two together, plain and simple.
Speaker 3: The numbers reflected that they weren't very good together. So
Speaker 3: it'll be interesting to see how management moves around with that.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I don't I don't see Lebron going to
Speaker 3: the Maps at all.
Speaker 1: There's so many good layers to this. I mean, one
Speaker 1: thing is trying to figure out kind of what Kyrie
Speaker 1: was trying to do here, right, this is news coming
Speaker 1: out kind of give him a little cover if he
Speaker 1: ends up leaving Dallas and going to the Lakers, can
Speaker 1: he sit there and say, well, I tried to get Look,
Speaker 1: I was trying to be loyal to the Mavericks. I
Speaker 1: tried to get this done in Dallas, and Dallas.
Speaker 2: Didn't want to give up enough for him, didn't make
Speaker 2: the deal.
Speaker 1: You know. So I don't know if it's laying background work.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's that the Lakers are kind
Speaker 1: of lukewarm on signing Kyrie. I mean, obviously he showed
Speaker 1: up a two of their playoff games. He's been trying
Speaker 1: to make a statement about at least wanted to play
Speaker 1: with Lebron, if not play for the Lakers. And I
Speaker 1: don't know how much money they have or would want
Speaker 1: to pay him, certainly compared to Dallas. So maybe this
Speaker 1: was his way of sort of publicly distancing himself, being like,
Speaker 1: I didn't want to play for LA anyway. See, I'm
Speaker 1: trying to recruit Lebron here actually, Like I don't know
Speaker 1: what the behind the scenes.
Speaker 3: I think none of us have had a successful job
Speaker 3: at guessing on what Kyriry is thinking or his strategies,
Speaker 3: you know, But I think obviously there's two things for certain.
Speaker 3: The Lakers aren't giving up Lebron unless Luke was coming back.
Speaker 3: And two, the Mavericks aren't going to work with Kyrie
Speaker 3: from a standpoint of hey, let's send you where you
Speaker 3: want to go. That those are two things that aren't
Speaker 3: going to happen.
Speaker 1: I mean, Kyrie's are free agents.
Speaker 3: Well yeah, they're not going to work a trade situation
Speaker 3: to kind of make it favorable for him. So obviously
Speaker 3: I'm sure they want his talent, But I think they
Speaker 3: want it, but they don't really know what to do
Speaker 3: with it yet, because, like I said, we got a
Speaker 3: small sample size. And to me, but two great players
Speaker 3: like that, it's hard to judge a twenty five game run.
Speaker 1: But they gave up a lot to get Yer run.
Speaker 3: Too many pieces.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for guy especially, it was gonna be free agent, right,
Speaker 1: And so to me, the fact that it didn't quite
Speaker 1: work had more to do less to do with them
Speaker 1: and more to do with the fact that, you know,
Speaker 1: Drian Finney Smith gone like that. They just didn't have
Speaker 1: the defense, you know, to be able to back those
Speaker 1: guys up. That they didn't have the co entary pieces.
Speaker 2: And if you're about to pay Kyrie more money and.
Speaker 1: You still don't have that's going to make you even
Speaker 1: more hamstrung and filling out that roster. That's what's complicated
Speaker 1: about the situation Dallas.
Speaker 3: Isn't it.
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: And then also too from a Lakers standpoint, how much
Speaker 3: would you have to give up? Because that was the
Speaker 3: one great move that Rob May was getting pieces that
Speaker 3: you know, and and they all may not stay, but
Speaker 3: I'm sure they want to keep at least two or
Speaker 3: three of those guys. And that was what help them
Speaker 3: with their run. They've made great moves trade deadline and
Speaker 3: to bring pieces in that helped compliment Lebron and Ad.
Speaker 3: So if you go back now and you're going to
Speaker 3: go all in for Kyrie, you're not going to be
Speaker 3: able to resign these guys and they're going to be
Speaker 3: a top heavy team, same way Phoenix was. And with
Speaker 3: Lebron being going into year twenty one and going on,
Speaker 3: was he thirty eight or thirty nine in December? I
Speaker 3: don't think that's a winning recipe. So again that there's
Speaker 3: a reason why these management guys are paid a lot
Speaker 3: of money and coaches are paid a lot of money
Speaker 3: because there's going to be a lot of strategy that
Speaker 3: goes in to this Summer'd.
Speaker 1: Be very interested to see whether Kyrie ends up in Dallas,
Speaker 1: how much money he can get them to commit, And frankly,
Speaker 1: more than money to years, I think is the issue.
Speaker 1: I mean, the backbreaker of a very broken relationship with
Speaker 1: Brooklyn was that they weren't going to pay him max amount.
Speaker 1: So you know, I do think that stuff's important to
Speaker 1: him and Dallas is the place he can get the most,
Speaker 1: But I just what kind of team is that going
Speaker 1: to leave them with You do have to be concerned.
Speaker 1: Luca's going to ask out if you completely, you know,
Speaker 1: mangle the roster just to keep Kyrie.
Speaker 3: So, like I said, it's Luca's team, Yeah, first and foremost,
Speaker 3: and that's what they all due respect to Kyrie and
Speaker 3: his talent, there's no question whose team that is. So,
Speaker 3: like you said, is it going all in on Kyrie?
Speaker 3: Is that going to rub? Is that even okay? With Luca?
Speaker 3: Like we don't know. Luca doesn't speak much. I would
Speaker 3: love to speak to him, but he doesn't speak much.
Speaker 3: So like I said, I think everything has to go
Speaker 3: through Luca as far as you know, catering to him because,
Speaker 3: like you said, a wrong move here and there and
Speaker 3: he can ask out, and you don't want to lose
Speaker 3: a generational talent like Luca.
Speaker 1: Amen. All right, Well, let's get to On the Radar
Speaker 1: presented by DraftKings, the only sports book you need. This
Speaker 1: Finals Game three in Miami.
Speaker 2: This surprised me.
Speaker 1: Matt Nuggets, two and a half, paint favorites on the road.
Speaker 1: Who do you like in Game three?
Speaker 3: I like Denver, really like Denver again, love Spoe, but
Speaker 3: I also really like Mike Malone, and in his understanding
Speaker 3: of it's game by game, every game, he could could
Speaker 3: be a completely different game plan. You know, I know
Speaker 3: Murray wants to, you know, get another shot at bouncing back.
Speaker 3: You're hoping that the role players are going to play better.
Speaker 3: But again, I'm very confident, you know, I was. I
Speaker 3: was looking at what Jimmy said after game one, how
Speaker 3: the guys were still in good spirits and laughing and
Speaker 3: joking the locker room, knowing that hey, we just need
Speaker 3: four games, and they felt very confident. Confident is a
Speaker 3: scary thing to play with, because if you get everybody confident,
Speaker 3: that the underdog can always overtake anybody. But again, I
Speaker 3: don't they got a great coach and Mike Malone, they
Speaker 3: got you know, Yokichen. It's going to be on the
Speaker 3: others and and I don't mean to put Murray in
Speaker 3: others because he's great, but it's going to be the
Speaker 3: other guys outside of Yokis that are gonna have to
Speaker 3: step up. But I feel like they will. But you know,
Speaker 3: this is going to be a back and forth series.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: I initially I thought after the thumping, hey, this could
Speaker 3: be a sweep. But then I quickly changed my tune,
Speaker 3: and not because of the loss. I just had to think, like,
Speaker 3: Spo has been amazing all season, so why is the
Speaker 3: finals going to change? So I think it's gonna be
Speaker 3: a great series, but I see I see Denver getting
Speaker 3: Game three.
Speaker 1: It's funny. I never thow I did think it had
Speaker 1: the danger of going only five games, just because Denver
Speaker 1: has been so consistent, and most of the opponents that
Speaker 1: he had played in this run have been inconsistent for
Speaker 1: various reasons. Right, I mean, honest gets hurt. That's not
Speaker 1: Eyone's fault, but it does make that team inconsistent. Then
Speaker 1: from there, Boston, we know I've been plagued by consistent
Speaker 1: the most inconsistent postseason, Right, Denver's been so consistent. I
Speaker 1: just didn't know if the heat we're going to have
Speaker 1: lanes to kind of get into them with they're doing
Speaker 1: their heat stuff. But we saw some of it in
Speaker 1: the first couple of games. And Denver has not been
Speaker 1: great on the road in this postseason, not been terrible,
Speaker 1: but just not define as strong as they've been at home.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it feels like they're going to come
Speaker 1: out of there with a split, but maybe not.
Speaker 2: We'll we'll see.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: The one thing that you can bank on is obviously
Speaker 3: it's the fine asn't Normally Miami would be a place
Speaker 3: where you got to worry about guys, but Denver doesn't
Speaker 3: seem like that kind of team. Just going to I think,
Speaker 3: I think his brothers are going to be.
Speaker 2: In there, but I.
Speaker 1: Just not seeing his brothers. Please YouTube, because these guys
Speaker 1: are bigger than him. He's like the little one, right.
Speaker 1: One of them was a professional wrestler, and I don't
Speaker 1: remember what the other one did professionally, but they're both.
Speaker 1: They're both at games. They talk a ton of trash,
Speaker 1: shitload of trash.
Speaker 3: From the stands because it can nobody whoop him. I've
Speaker 3: been talking that much too. If I knew that I
Speaker 3: had a brother that was just as bad as me
Speaker 3: and ready to throw them. We actually got a chance
Speaker 3: not to kind of change something. So in Croatia, we
Speaker 3: got a chance to sit down with Yokic's agent, Misko
Speaker 3: I think that's his name. Yeah, And just the way
Speaker 3: he discovered Yolkic was unbelievable. Literally found him in a
Speaker 3: newspaper back to back weeks that no one was covering them,
Speaker 3: no one was talking about him. He traveled out to
Speaker 3: talk to his family and brought Yolkic under his umbrella,
Speaker 3: and the rest is literally NBA history. So stay tuned
Speaker 3: for that because I think that that was a really
Speaker 3: interesting time to get out and sit down here with
Speaker 3: him and kind of hear his philosophies and strategies on
Speaker 3: how we found him and how he moved with his agency.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's some clips already out on Showtime YouTube. Oh
Speaker 1: is that we're seeing? It's really really good. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: was fascinated watching that with you guys, and look, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be It is a great story about the way
Speaker 1: the NBA works in general, because there's gonna be more
Speaker 1: of those stories. Jimmy Butler in some ways is an
Speaker 1: unexpected hero, and you've just got so many guys. You've
Speaker 1: got those undrafted guys on Miami's team and I don't
Speaker 1: know Caleb Martin, who people gave up on right like
Speaker 1: a couple of seasons ago. I mean, I just think
Speaker 1: that it's a great and you showed this so many
Speaker 1: times in your career that will and tell it, you know,
Speaker 1: over hype make absolutely a big.
Speaker 3: Difference and there's a lot more money. Now, go get
Speaker 3: that money, young fellas.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: What was Duncan Robinson's contract?
Speaker 1: We were talking before we say it down.
Speaker 3: Here's ninety million. It's a lot of money. So Struce
Speaker 3: and Vincent and Caleb Martin go go get Okay, go
Speaker 3: get that ship man.
Speaker 1: Go get yourself. Some lots of coaching staffs being filled
Speaker 1: out over the last couple of days. We had Sam
Speaker 1: Cassell joining the Celtics bench, Steven Silas joined the Detroit
Speaker 1: bench as an assistant. Biggest tier of the week, though,
Speaker 1: was Frank Vogel as the head coach in Phoenix, which
Speaker 1: came a bit out of nowhere just because he hadn't
Speaker 1: been mentioned among the candidates as much, not out of
Speaker 1: nowhere in terms of his qualifications.
Speaker 2: Championship coach.
Speaker 1: All your thoughts about that move.
Speaker 3: I liked it, you know, there wasn't really much left
Speaker 3: out there. And I say that without due respect, you know,
Speaker 3: And to me, I think Volga got a bad rap.
Speaker 3: You know. Obviously, coming to LA is a lot more
Speaker 3: than basketball. Coaching Lebron is a lot more than basketball.
Speaker 3: So to me, it's hard to really judge a coach
Speaker 3: when he coaches Lebron because we all know the way
Speaker 3: Lebron moves, and he should move how he does move.
Speaker 3: I love the way Lebron moves, but sometimes I think,
Speaker 3: you know, the coaches are the scapegoats. So I like
Speaker 3: the hiring out there. But I also liked that they
Speaker 3: brought Fizzdeal over Fizzdale. You know that they had to
Speaker 3: pay him to get him out of his Utah management situation.
Speaker 3: But you know, they still have some very solid pieces
Speaker 3: of there and booking KD and they got to figure
Speaker 3: out what they're going to do with Aiden. You know,
Speaker 3: see what you know, how much juice is left in
Speaker 3: Chris Paul's old legs. Still my guy, But yeah, I
Speaker 3: like the Vogel move. I like the bringing on Fizzdale. So,
Speaker 3: you know, a lot of shake up this offseason just
Speaker 3: from the coaching. So I can't wait till players start moving.
Speaker 1: I mean, fizz is such a like player whisperer. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I assume that that's part of what made him appealing.
Speaker 1: There is just kind of helping that cohesiveness. I think
Speaker 1: he and Kevin Durant are going to do very well together.
Speaker 1: He and book are going to do very well together.
Speaker 2: And Vogel. I'm interested in me. He's got a real
Speaker 2: history with Big Man.
Speaker 1: So I'm very curious to see whether this means do
Speaker 1: they keep Deandrayton. You know, I assume he certainly came
Speaker 1: in with a plan. I assume he went into those
Speaker 1: interviews saying, hey, if you keep him, here's what I
Speaker 1: would do with him, right, And I assume that was
Speaker 1: part of what made him.
Speaker 3: So I just hope that that aiden because he is
Speaker 3: so talented that he has someone just sit his ass
Speaker 3: down this summer, whether it's our brother Kevin Garnett going
Speaker 3: out to Phoenix and sitting down with them for a week.
Speaker 3: But I just think he needs someone that he respects,
Speaker 3: or if there is anyone out there that he can listen,
Speaker 3: because he is so talented and he can bring so
Speaker 3: much to the table for that team, but it's just
Speaker 3: between the ears with them, and it's always been between
Speaker 3: the ears with that guy. So you know, you think
Speaker 3: that you know, you went to Arizona and then your
Speaker 3: Phoenix and you get paid a bunch of money. Sometimes
Speaker 3: you do need a change of settings. But if they
Speaker 3: can salvage him, I just think he's such a talented
Speaker 3: big if if anyone is able to get through to him,
Speaker 3: maybe it's Kevin Durant, because not to cut you off,
Speaker 3: I remember he spoke on how great Kevin Durant has
Speaker 3: been for him off the court and kind of talking
Speaker 3: to him. So if he can sit down and sew
Speaker 3: because Kevin Durant doesn't talk a time where he talks
Speaker 3: on his little show now, but his basketball mind is incredible.
Speaker 3: He's such a student of the game. And I really
Speaker 3: think that if Aiden would listen to KD and follow
Speaker 3: Katie's lead, he could be a huge, huge part for
Speaker 3: the Suns team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I can never quite figure out what it
Speaker 1: is Mayden, because if you sit and talk to him,
Speaker 1: he does not have a bad attitude. This is not
Speaker 1: a guy who, like you know, is sullen. He's not entitled,
Speaker 1: he's not you know. He likes being friendly with his teammates.
Speaker 1: He was so excited when Katie would spend time with him.
Speaker 1: He thought it was like the most exciting best thing ever.
Speaker 1: Was like, oh my god, he stayed up with me
Speaker 1: all night and talk to me, and it was just like, hey,
Speaker 1: he's your teammate and you guys are on a long
Speaker 1: road trip and to him.
Speaker 2: It was so exciting. So there's a disconnect somewhere.
Speaker 3: Clearly it might have been my Money, you know, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean, It was well doted, committed that
Speaker 3: they didn't get along, and I was the biggest firing
Speaker 3: surprise to me was Money. Yeah, you mean to think
Speaker 3: that what he's able to do as that team in
Speaker 3: a small window time is winning percentages? How much winning?
Speaker 3: So to me, when I first fired Money, I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 3: well then they still want to keep Aiden, So I
Speaker 3: find it hard hard to believe that they would let
Speaker 3: go of Moni and Aiden in the same summer. So,
Speaker 3: like you said, it was a disconnect somewhere. If it's
Speaker 3: Monnie Williams, it's Monty Williams. And then they decided to
Speaker 3: keep their investment in aid. And so again just if
Speaker 3: it's KD or Book or you know, a handful of them,
Speaker 3: just being able to get through to him, because I
Speaker 3: get this kid has so much talent and can really
Speaker 3: help this team.
Speaker 1: Yeah for sure. And look, by the way, thrilled that
Speaker 1: Monic got the bag o Corig, because I think he
Speaker 1: was scapegoated a bit in Phoenix. You trade again, So
Speaker 1: I'm kind of like Dallas. You trade a chunk of
Speaker 1: your team for Kevin Durant and then you're surprised that
Speaker 1: you don't have the bodies to go at it and
Speaker 1: the playoffs. You're just like, come on, that's not the
Speaker 1: coach's fault. But I was like, man, he got paid
Speaker 1: into trade.
Speaker 3: That's going to help guys like Spoe and Steve Kerr
Speaker 3: and some of these guys. The contracts that are coming up,
Speaker 3: twenty million is is the number now for the top
Speaker 3: going coaches. So that's gonna be dope, dude.
Speaker 2: I mean, look, they work.
Speaker 1: So you know how much coaches work. They work to
Speaker 1: so many hours. And you're talking about Duncan Robinson with
Speaker 1: his five years ninety million, So you know, there you go,
Speaker 1: who who's as important as any one player to a
Speaker 1: team is the right coach? So I don't know. Do
Speaker 1: you think Sam Cassel joining the Celtics means that Doc
Speaker 1: Rivers won't be working this season because Sam normally goes River.
Speaker 3: Doc goes I think so. I think so. And we
Speaker 3: may have seen the last of Doc. You know, we
Speaker 3: may have seen the last of Doctor's. You know, me
Speaker 3: and I like Doc as a person, but I think
Speaker 3: the glaring weakness with Doc has been his in game adjustments.
Speaker 3: And we've been raving about Spoe and Mike Malone and
Speaker 3: that how important in game adjustments are, and that's kind
Speaker 3: of to me. Doc is a very strong coach, great motivator,
Speaker 3: can make you believe, you know, the ocean is purple,
Speaker 3: and have you ready to run through a wall with
Speaker 3: his fucking gladiator speeches. But what I saw as a player,
Speaker 3: and what other guys have talked about is just kind
Speaker 3: of his adjustments. So again, I think, you know, obviously
Speaker 3: going to Boston is similar to Fizdale going to Phoenix.
Speaker 3: A great guy that is able to communicate and be
Speaker 3: a bridge between the head coach and the players. So
Speaker 3: I definitely like that pick up because you know, Emy
Speaker 3: was hand picking those boss and assistants and bringing them
Speaker 3: out to Houston, So I think Sam was a good
Speaker 3: pickup for that staff.
Speaker 1: What strikes me about Doc is that he went from
Speaker 1: one team to another team that both had a lot
Speaker 1: of behind the scenes situations going on, and I think
Speaker 1: there's a lot about what was going on in Philly
Speaker 1: these past three years that we don't know ton, and
Speaker 1: so I'm not really ready to make an assessment on
Speaker 1: on sort of oh, did he do a good enough
Speaker 1: job or not? And again I just keep saying, if
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum didn't hit what one or two less threes
Speaker 1: at the end of game six playing, he'd be in
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference, you know, they'd be in the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference finals at least, and like he would still probably.
Speaker 2: Be in that job.
Speaker 1: Kind of like rap Polinka, Right, you make it to
Speaker 1: the conference finals, you're going to keep your job.
Speaker 2: So I just I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think Doc is the kind of guy I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be surprised if he took a year off and then
Speaker 1: shame that.
Speaker 3: A great great talker, great motivator, great person. Yeah again,
Speaker 3: I just as a player, I've seen it. I've heard
Speaker 3: I've heard other players talk about it. That to me
Speaker 3: that if there's any not even saying bad, if there's
Speaker 3: one weakness Doc has, it's just those in game adjustments,
Speaker 3: and those are so huge these days, it's always a huge,
Speaker 3: but up late it's really steaded out.
Speaker 1: Take your off and watch TV and be on TV
Speaker 1: and see hit the golf, do so much golf. But
Speaker 1: maybe you know, make those adjustments from your couch and
Speaker 1: get better at it.
Speaker 2: Before I let you go.
Speaker 1: I this just caught my eye and I had to
Speaker 1: ask you about it. Jared Jackson Junior was on Paul
Speaker 1: George's podcast again NBA fans, You're so lucky. You're getting
Speaker 1: all this shit.
Speaker 2: All this content, all of it.
Speaker 1: He said that Steven Adams, when Paul and Steven Adams
Speaker 1: were playing together in Oklahoma City and remember now Steven
Speaker 1: Adams is playing with Jaron Jackson Junior in Memphis. He
Speaker 1: said that Stephen tried to scratch his face so hard
Speaker 1: that he would bleed.
Speaker 2: And he was like, Stephen, what are you doing? Why
Speaker 2: are you scratching your face so hard? And he goes, mate,
Speaker 2: I'm just trying to get us more time. We need
Speaker 2: to tuddle.
Speaker 1: We don't have any.
Speaker 3: Timeouts left, so he was trying to I didn't see it,
Speaker 3: but I've kind of saw. So he was trying to
Speaker 3: scratch his else so that they could get like a stoppage.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you know you can't have blood on the court, right,
Speaker 1: and that's Johnson. So so that's what Steven Anders was doing.
Speaker 1: And of course it made me think of what we
Speaker 1: have seen other players.
Speaker 2: And coaches do to try to get that extra time.
Speaker 1: Out. They don't have Jason Kidd spilled bottle, a spilled drink,
Speaker 1: Paul kg.
Speaker 2: Bump into me.
Speaker 1: So what's the strangest thing a teammader coach has done
Speaker 1: of that nature, Because you've played with everyone.
Speaker 3: Forever, I don't nothing comes to mind. Honestly, I was
Speaker 3: trying to delay it or change it. I don't have
Speaker 3: a good story. I mean, I remember the one time
Speaker 3: the game was delayed was when I was playing for
Speaker 3: the Kings early in my career and there's a mouse
Speaker 3: mouse at the palace, and literally while I was in
Speaker 3: Sacramento with Web and Bibbie and all these guys, and
Speaker 3: I remember, like, they're in the Eastern Conference game, so
Speaker 3: literally someone turned the TV on and we were late
Speaker 3: coming back out to the court to start the second
Speaker 3: half because we were all watching.
Speaker 2: Are you serious what.
Speaker 3: Was going on? Yeah, we're all to what was going on?
Speaker 3: We didn't know that with Stack and and and his
Speaker 3: guys and Ben Wallace and Ron. So yeah, that was
Speaker 3: the one. I mean, that's the only thing that comes
Speaker 3: to mind of like stopping play or not starting play
Speaker 3: on time. But as far as a player or a
Speaker 3: coach doing some stick shit, I don't have nothing else.
Speaker 2: That's pretty funny.
Speaker 1: I mean the game wasn't going on, no, but literally.
Speaker 3: Like literally they like we were late to come out
Speaker 3: to start the second half because we were all watching
Speaker 3: the Malice in the Palace.
Speaker 2: That's bonkers. I didn't realize that's see. There you go.
Speaker 1: All right, next week, we'll have more NBA Finals this
Speaker 1: because we know we're going to at least five games,
Speaker 1: So stay tuned. What's Burning available every week on Showtime Basketball, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram,
Speaker 1: and TikTok. This man is going to get some very
Speaker 1: well deserved sleep.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go golf first.
Speaker 2: Are you serious.
Speaker 3: I'm just going to try to burn it on both ends. Damn,
Speaker 3: I grew up my baby. If I don't come home,
Speaker 3: I'm a sleep my golf cart, So come find me,
Speaker 3: see yah,